There was a chunk of Monday night’s win over the Grizzlies that pretty much said all you need to know about the state of the Pacers’ defense and why, in the early part of the year, they have established themselves as the league’s best team and the biggest threat to the Heat’s three-peat fantasy.

Sure, there were story lines abounding — Indiana remaining undefeated at 8-0, the Lance Stephenson triple-double, Paul George’s 19 second-half points, even the impending return to practice of Danny Granger — but those all pale in comparison to the dominance of the Pacers’ defense, which has loomed over this season (for the rest of the league, at least) like a grim shadow.

Case in point came at the close of the third quarter against Memphis, and the opening of the fourth. Grizzlies guard Mike Miller hit a jumper with 3:04 in the third, cutting Indiana’s lead to 63-52. From there, the Grizzlies’ chain of possessions went like this:

• Memphis swung the ball around the 3-point line to center Marc Gasol, who missed a 20-foot jumper with four seconds showing on the shot clock.

• Point guard Nick Calathes attempted to drive the paint and was met by a triple-team of George Hill, David West and Paul George. He flung the ball to the perimeter, got it back, tried another drive and was stripped on the way for a turnover.

• The Grizzlies set up forward Ed Davis on the right block against David West. Davis took two dribbles before turning into the lane—where West blocked and stripped his shot with five seconds on the shot clock.

• Miller took the ball from the 3-point arc and attempted a drive and met by another triple-team. He fed it to Tony Allen in the corner, but Allen was called for a charge when George stepped in front of him. Turnover.

• Allen tried his luck driving the lane, but found the triple-team of West, George and Ian Mahinmi. He squeezed through enough to feed a pass to Miller for a 3-pointer, which he made with three seconds on the shot clock on the Grizzlies’ final third-quarter possession.

• To start the fourth, where the Grizzlies got the ball to Miller with two passes, and Miller pulled up for a 21-foot jumper and missed.

• The Grizzlies attempted to set up Calathes with a pick-and-roll, but the Pacers switched easily, and Calathes was cut off by Mahinmi. He moved the ball to Allen, who drove and was again swallowed up by a double team. With six seconds to go on the shot clock, Allen tried to pass but was stripped for a turnover.

• A little frustrated, Miller ran to the paint and attempted a hook shot, missing the runner with seven seconds to go on the shot clock.

Those eight possessions yielded a measly three points for Memphis, and during that span, their deficit grew to 78-55, effectively ending the game. They turned the ball over three times, had another one blocked, and made six forays into the paint, four of which were met by triple-teams. They had five field-goal attempts, with the shot clock at four, five, three, 13 and seven seconds for each shot.

The Pacers have been phenomenal to start the year here in the NBA, and nothing has gotten them to the top of the league quite like the suffocating defense. Just ask the Grizzlies, who had a hard enough time even getting into the paint, finding a forest of Pacers in there when they did. Indiana is allowing just 32.2 points in the paint per game, second to the Bulls, but as tough as it is to attempt shots in the heart of the Pacers D, it’s that much harder to actually make them. The Pacers have allowed just 43.4 percent shooting on in-the-paint attempts.

Indiana has been able to stifle inside without picking up a mass of fouls—they have long been a tough interior team under Frank Vogel, but they have matured and shown increased discipline. The starting big men, David West and Roy Hibbert, are combining to average 5.9 blocks, but average just 2.4 fouls per game each. In all, Indiana gives up 18.6 free throws per game, fourth in the league.

If there is a tradeoff, it is that the Pacers’ perimeter defense is merely average, or slightly above. They allow 34.6 percent on 3-pointers, which is still below the league average (35.8 percent), and they’re in the middle of the pack when it comes to defending spot-up shooters (0.949 points per possession, according to Synergy Sports, which is 13th in the NBA). But if you’ve got such a stranglehold on the lane, you’ll willingly give up pretty good outside looks.

All of these numbers can be crystalized into one critical stat: 0.809. According to Synergy, that is the number of points per possession the Pacers are yielding, and it is incredibly stingy. No. 2 in the league is Golden State, which is at 0.838, followed by Chicago at 0.848. Last year, the Pacers led the league in points per possession allowed, and their total then was 0.866.

A 0.809 points allowed is unheard of—since Synergy started documenting the number 10 seasons ago, the best has been 0.852 by Chicago in 2011-’12, the lockout year.

The Pacers can’t carry out that level of defense over the course of an 82-game season, of course. And leading the league in defensive efficiency doesn’t guarantee anything when the playoffs come around—only two of the 10 teams to lead the league in points per possession allowed went on to be champs, Boston in ’08 and the Spurs in ’05.

But the Pacers are playing historically good defense through their first eight games. They’ve turned the paint into a brick wall, they have been solid on the perimeter and they don’t give out much at the free-throw line. Miami—like the Grizzlies, and the rest of the league—will certainly take notice.